Fermilab LInC Online

Flooding River

Twenty Questions (part one)

(The whole class should participate in this sorting of ideas for it to be effective)

Summary

Student Pages

Rubric

Index of Projects

Twenty Questions

Below is a technique that is a very good way to sort through many ideas to come up with a single project that can be completed and is interesting to the student. This is also a good way to establish groups that have common interests. It is better to work with people who share your vision than to work with friends who have little or no interest in the project. The class will need to cooperate on this sorting of ideas if you choose to use this method of establishing groups.


Read all these instructions before you go out

Take a pencil and a note book with you to the river. Sitin a place by yourself that is comfortable and quiet. You need to be close enough to the river to hear it and see it. You will have 30 minutes to complete this activity. Don't rush this process, use all of your time and take it seriously.

Close your eyes and sit quietly listening to the sounds of the river and birds in the area. Feel the air around you and smell the scent of nature. Relax and become part of this environment. Keep your eyes closed for several minutes.

When you open your eyes, think of this river flowing from somewhere upstream into Lake Erie and onto the Atlantic ocean. Think of our part of the river and how it sometimes overflows its banks and floods causing damage to houses, buildings and schools. Why does this happen? What are the causes? Can it be prevented? Can we learn to live with it? What do we have to changes? Let these questions and others about flooding flow through your mind while you sit quietly along the river.

After a few more minutes, take your pencil and notebook and start writing questions you have about the river flooding. What would you like to know? What might help you understand more about the flooding? What could be discovered that might help with this problem? What aspects of the river do you want to know more about to help you solve this problem? Begin writing down ANY question that you have in regards to the river and the flooding problem no matter how far fetched or impossible you might think it is. Let your mind work and capture all of your thoughts. Let them flow. Spelling does not count.

Keep writing questions until you have twenty questions. If your mind becomes blocked and you can't think of anymore questions, close your eyes and think of the river flowing past you. Think of the snow melting in the spring and the rain coming down in sudden storms in the summer. Think of the water on the land around the river sinking into the ground and flowing into the ground water. Where does the flood come from? Where does the water go? Open your eyes, put your pencil on your paper and let the questions flow. If you finish before thirty minutes just sit quietly until the teacher calls you in.

Next click here only after finishing all five steps ............................................Back to top

Pages for Students
Hints
Links
Scientific Method
Web Research Form
Focusing Investigation
20 Questions
Table of content
Defining Questions
Timeline
Teams
Notebook
Splitting the Computer Screen
Rubric for Grading
Final Product
Responsibilities
What to do Next

 


photo credits: huronannarbor http://www.airsho.com/airsho_cfmfiles/public/photo_tour.cfm?id=1200&agentid=1027

huronfalls http://www.lsa.umich.edu/mbg/explore/out/out.flemingcrik.html

huronkyak http://detnews.com/2000/metro/0001/24/index.htm

Rougeheron http://www.wcdoe.org/rougeriver/

Clip Art Credit: : Pageresource.com (A free Web Resource from DreamWeaver) http://www.pageresource.com/graphics/index.html

reated for the Fermilab LInC program sponsored by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Education Office and Friends of Fermilab, and funded by United States Department of Energy, Illinois State Board of Education, North Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium which is operated by North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL), and the National Science Foundation.

Author(s): Miles Robinson (mrobinson@cranbrook.edu), Brian Schad (schad@aaps.k12.mi.us )
Cranbrook Schools, Kingswood Girl's Middle School, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Lawton Elementary Ann Arbor, Michigan
Created: February 15, 2001 - Updated: April 18, 2001
URL: /lincon/w01/projects/yourfoldername/student.html